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Saturday, September 28, 2013

It's Hannah, answering25 Book Questions just 'cause. My mom asked if we could do a similar questionnaire with books, so I modified the music questions. Books have more to do with writing anyway, right?1: A book you like with a color in the title: Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This includes the whole series, but my favorite is Anne of Avonlea, I think... I might have just liked it cause it had the prettiest cover. Gosh, it's been a long time since I read those.

2: A book you like with a number in the title: The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien. Lord of the Rings, wink wink.

3: A book that reminds you of Christmas time: Becky Garcia by Elspeth Campbell Murphy.

4: A book that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about: Um... Nope. Got nothing.

5: A book about drugs or alcohol: Hmm... I don't know if there are any of those... there's probably a Frank E. Peretti book about that. No, I've just remembered. The Icebound Land by John Flanagan has a lot about a drug called warmweed. It's not strictly about drugs, but it has drugs in it. Not in a positive light, mind you.

6: A book that makes you happy: Just about any book by John Flanagan... except maybe Halt's Peril. Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard is funny, too. The Derwood Inc. series by Jeri Massi is also hilarious.

7: A book that makes you sad: The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer. Halt's Peril by John Flanagan. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. These are books that make me merely sad. See also "a book that breaks your heart".

8: A book that you never get tired of: I don't know if there's a single book, but I'm quite content to read the Enola Holmes books by Nancy Springer several times over. Harry Potter is good for repeat-reading too.

9: A book from your preteen years: Hmm. The Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis. The Chronicles of Narnia is one of my favorite series ever.

10: A book that is a retelling of another story: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Or maybe even the whole Chronicles of Narnia series. It's a retelling of the Bible: The Magician's Nephew being when Aslan created the world; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe being when Aslan (Jesus), as the son of the Emperor-Over-The-Sea (God), sacrificed himself for a traitor and was resurrected to triumph over evil; and The Last Battle relating the events of Revelation, etc.

11: One of your favorite classic books: Not sure what "classic" entails... I guess I'll say Beowulf, then, which is about as classic as they come.

12: A book from the year that you were born: Oooh! Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling. Special.

13: A book that makes you think about life: Do Hard Things by Brett and Alex Harris, The Courtship of Sarah McLean, by Stephen B. Castleberry.

14: A favorite book with a person’s name in the title: Gypsy Rizka by Lloyd Alexander.

15: A book that moves you forward: Do Hard Things, by Brett and Alex Harris.

16: A book that you think everybody should read: The Holy Bible, by God. Good stuff. But I also think every teenager should read Do Hard Things.

17: A book by an author no longer living: Rakkety Tam by Brian Jacques. Or the whole Redwall series, as a matter of fact.

18: A book from another country: Oh, a whole lot of the books I've mentioned. If I have to pick one, let's say Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. The author lives in Ireland.

19: A favorite book from a favorite series:Abandoned by Jeri Massi, from the Derwood Inc. series.

20: A book that makes you want to fall in love: TheViking Quest series by Lois Walfrid Johnson is pretty good. Most fairytale books by Gail Carson Levine...

21: A book that breaks your heart: Hmmm... what counts as "breaking my heart"? The ending of The Return of The King by J. R. R. Tolkien was really depressing. Left Behind by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins can get pretty heart-breaking, both the kids and adult series. And... oh, gosh,the Seven Sleepers seriesby Gilbert Morris. The Final Kingdom made me cry. Oh, and another book that makes me sob like a baby is the Courageous novelization by Randy Alcorn. My word. If you haven't seen the movie Courageous by Sherwood Pictures, you should watch it. You know, I'm actually pretty emotional when it comes to fiction. I say emotional, Trinity says sappy...

22: A book by an author you love: For a long time I'd say Gail Carson Levine was my favorite author, and The Two Sisters of Bamarre is one of my favorites from her.

23: A book that you remember from your childhood: Elsie Dinsmore by Martha Finley. Heavens, that series was traumatizing. Mama used to read it to us before naptime, and we often dreaded it, because, besides Elsie, none of the kids ever "did good"... and the girl just had a horrible life. I read this book again a few years ago, and for some reason it wasn't quite so bad.

One of our several, disorderly bookshelves,

24: A book that has many meanings to you: Should I at all include the books I am writing in this list? Those have many meanings to me. But if not, perhaps one of the books Mama used to read to us when we were little. I know I've already put The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe on here several times, but that book means a lot to me. When I was younger, I used to hate it being read to me about as much as Elsie Dinsmore, mostly because Edmund "did bad". I hated it to the point of disliking the spot on the bookshelf it sat on whenever I walked past. But later, in 2005, we got to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe film. Now, back then, we didn't see very many recently released films, or DVDs for that matter, so Narnia was revelatory to me. I left the room during the Stone Table scene - it was super scary and made me cry - but Mama wanted us to see it, I assume because of how it related to the crucifixion, and sent me back in. I spent most of the scene hiding under my blanket (I was only seven at the time... and give me a break, The Little Mermaid scared me).
But once we finished the movie, in the following days... and weeks and months... it got to be one of my favorite movies. And I knew there was a book about it, but I'd never read it, so I finally finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. So it has many meanings to me.

25: A book that reminds you of yourself: The Mildred Keith series by Martha Finley were great, but we accidentally sold it, so I haven't read it for years. The Big Green Pocketbook is a kid's book that I used to read a lot that is reminiscent of my... big... green... purse. The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer, too, and again, the Derwood Inc. series by Jeri Massi. And the first six Trixie Belden books.

So there you go. Not even a fifth of all the books I've read in my lifetime. I was going to say tenth, but I'm not really sure how many books I have read, so I'll say it's a fifth to be on the safe side. And there's at least 153 books here. When there should be 25. Oh, well. Reading's awesome.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Guess what?! It's been almost an entire month since anybody posted. And two months since I personally posted. But Trinity is back!

Aaaaand, I won't be talking about writing today. It'll be music. Which is a big part of writing, right!?

Anyway, here are the thirty questions that I'm going to answer for today's post.

1: A song you like with a color in the title:I actually have quite a few, but here's a few my favorites... Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue by Toby Keith / Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern) by Miles Davis / Streets of Gold from Oliver and Company.

2: A song you like with a number in the title:I'm making two whole new playlists for colors and numbers! And they're huge. I found 22 number songs. I'll try and narrow them down to... three. Ouch.

Okay, okay, four... Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks / The 12 Days Of Christmas by Straight No Chaser / Million Voices by Barlow Girl / Seven Ways To Praise by Carman

3: A song that reminds you of summertime:AHA! I already have a playlist for this one. Summer Sunshine by *gulp* ... Barbie / Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band / Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride by Jump5 / and sigh... Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.

Hey! It reminds me of summer because the first time I heard it all the way through was when the Olympic Swim team made a music video to it, okay!?

4: A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about:

I will gracefully bow out of this one as I really don't have a good answer for it.

5: A song that needs to be played LOUD:Boomin' by TobyMac. And Showstopper by TobyMac.

6: A song that makes you want to dance:Oooh, lots of songs... But if I'm not in the mood, no song at all. If any song can make me dance, it's Thriller, though.

7: A song to drive to:

Showstopper by TobyMac. Most Audio Adrenaline songs. White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic because when I drive a twelve passenger van with carseats and a Bible verse on the side, it's ridiculous to think I'm so cool for rapping this song perfectly.

8: A song about drugs or alcohol:At first I was like, "Uh.... I don't have any of those." But then I thought of one.

Who Spiked The Eggnog by Straight No Chaser!

9: A song that makes you happy:

Touch The Sky by Julie Fowlis usually makes me feel somewhat rapturous. If that makes sense.

10: A song that makes you sad:

Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. It makes me sad to think of leaving my family when I get married.

11: A song that you never get tired of:I can eventually get tired of any song. A song I'm not tired of yet, but have listened to many times? This This, Message For Ya, and Baby Girl by Nicole C. Mullen.

12: A song from your preteen years:Get Down by Audio Adrenaline. My dad used to listen to DCTalk and Audio Adrenaline on the way to work and I remember riding with him and singing their songs, so they're special to me now.

13: One of your favorite 80’s songs:

Oh, gee... I know so many... (Not sarcasm). Okay, here's three.

Another One Bites The Dust by Queen / No Spill Blood by Oingo Boingo / Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics

14: A song that you would love played at your wedding:

Sabbath Prayer from Fiddler On The Roof, maybe. I don't know. I really don't care for sad, sappy songs that make me bawl. Thriller will almost definitely be played at some point. (Not during the ceremony, though.)

15: A song that is a cover by another artist:

Party Rock Anthem by Lindsey Stirling.

16: One of your favorite classical songs:Ooh-ooh!! Yay!! I've always had a special place for Tchaikovsky's music. It's just been a favorite of mine. Pachelbel's music is close behind, possibly tied with Bach, then Beethoven. Mozart I've never liked much for some reason. Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries is a favorite. / Moonlight Sonata, possibly. / La Gazza Ladra, or The Theiving Magpie by Gioacchino Rossini. / Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 / Holst's Mars, Bringer Of War

I don't know. I was exposed to a LOT of classical music as a child, so it's special to me.

17: A song that you would sing a duet with on karaoke:

Playing With The Big Boys from Prince of Egypt. / Let Our Voices Rise Like Incense by Petra / Hallelujah by Michael Henry and Justin Robinette / and though I probably shouldn't... Phantom Of The Opera by Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

18: A song from the year that you were born:Colors Of The Wind by Judy Kuhn. (I didn't even know that was written the year I was born!)

19: A song that makes you think about life:Something To Be Proud Of by Montgomery Gentry / Walking Her Home by Mark Shultz / We Live by Superchick / You're Gonna Miss This by Trace Adkins

20: A song that has many meanings to you:

This is a hard one. I'm going to go with Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle. Ever since a friend told me it was her favorite song it's had extra meaning, and then the song itself is very meaningful and almost always makes me cry.